GSU Panther Basketball
Off and Running with New Head Coach

by Dave Cohen

The Georgia State Panther basketball team is off to one of its best starts in school history and they’re doing under first year head coach Ron Hunter. Hunter, who spent the previous seventeen seasons leading the program at IUPUI in Indianapolis, came to Atlanta during the off-season to take over a struggling program that had lost eighty games over the last four seasons under coach Rod Barnes. While inheriting a talented squad, his first task was to begin changing the culture surrounding the basketball program to one that bought in to his belief of “Why Not Now?” From all indications it appears that his Panthers have bought in. As of this writing they had won a school record nine consecutive games heading into conference play in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). Georgia State radio voice Dave Cohen talked with Hunter about the team’s progress through the first third of the season.

Going back to the off-season, what was it about the Georgia State job that peaked your interest?

Well, the one thing that excited me was the fact that I’d been at urban institutions before. I mean, this was right up my alley. Some guys take jobs that are not a fit for them but they take them for obvious reasons. This was a perfect fit for me. It was a program that needed some enthusiasm, needed a boost of confidence, and that’s kind of what I am so this was just an unbelievable situation for me so that’s why I thought right now was the time.

Coming in you weren’t sure what you had personnel-wise but it looks like the roster just needed a little fine tuning and an infusion of a winning attitude.

I knew we had talent here. I just thought we had to change the culture. It doesn’t matter so much about talent; it’s that culture of losing. That was one of the things that was driving me crazy. How do you change that? There are a lot of different things to try and change the culture of basketball around here but after watching them workout a couple of times I didn’t think, “Wow, I don’t have any talent.” We don’t shoot it as well as I would like to but they’re athletic and tough-minded kids. Again, I was concerned about the culture and we’ve been able to change that so far.

In taking over a program that has struggled in recent years, Panther fans have embraced your motto of “Why Not Now?”, meaning why do we have to wait to be competitive as a program overall and be a contender in the CAA?

I always find it interesting when new programs get started there’s that feeling that you have to wait to win. Well, what are you waiting for? You know, these are kids that have been playing basketball their whole lives so I had to make some adjustments. I think it’s important that we put our system in but I had to make some adjustments to this team, just like I will make some adjustments to the team we’ll have next year, but I wanted these kids (seniors) to know, you know, I don’t want to use your last year, and waste it, so it’s kind of “Why not now?” The kids have taken that motto and run with it. Again, it’s about changing that culture. Why do we have to wait to win? Why do we have to wait to get to the NCAA tournament? Is there someone telling us we can’t go? If we can win and go then let’s give it a shot at it.

At IUPUI you battled every year in the Summit League. Now you get ready for your first run through the CAA, a league that’s had two Final Four teams in the last six seasons.

I’ve heard a lot about it and, of course, with the national part of it with VCU’s run last year and George Mason before that, but I am still more excited about my team. I don’t like looking ahead. I love just the next game. I think more people (opposing teams) are going to be more interested about playing us than we are interested in playing them because we’ve made the change. It used to be that teams would come to Atlanta and you know, you get a win and get out of here. Those days are over. I think it is going to be more of an adjustment for opposing teams and them being more worried about what we do than I am when we begin CAA play. I like where my teams. I love the fact that they are playing mentally tough basketball and, with that, I think that we’re always going to have a chance to win games. We may not win them all but I think we are going to have a chance to win every game that we play.

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